Defensive dynamo Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz wants to be a complete player and is aiming to be a star on the offensive end of the court.
As reported by Ben Dowsett of The Athletic, the 2018 Defensive Player of the Year shared that he wants to be an effective weapon on offense for his team:
“I want to show that I’m not only a defensive star,” Gobert says. “I can be a star offensively, too.”
This seems to be the 26-year-old's main goal this season. So far, through six games, he's averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game on a whopping 75 percent shooting from the field. He also snags 13.5 points per game and 2.7 blocks.
A good reason why Gobert is putting on great offensive numbers in the young season is simply that the Jazz are running plays through him. Either Ricky Rubio or Joe Ingles are his partners in pick-and-roll situations.
Head coach Quinn Snyder acknowledges that pick-and-roll plays don't necessarily end up with Gobert scoring the basket but it does open up his other teammates. But from time to time, it's also good that Gobert gets rewarded for a ‘thankless' job:
“A lot of times for Rudy, he’s rolling and rolling, and he’s getting other people opportunities,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said over the weekend. “It’s good to see him get rewarded, because sometimes that job can be thankless. It’s not thankless, guys on the team are thanking him.”
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